16 MARIJUANA GROW HOUSES HAVE BEEN RAIDED IN PAST 10 DAYS IN PORT ST.LUCIE
by Will Greenlee, (Source:Fort Pierce Tribune)

18 May 2006

Florida
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PORT ST. LUCIE -- Most are from Cuba and the Dominican Republic and have been living in Port St. Lucie for as long as two years.

In general, they drive expensive vehicles, live in unremarkable or nice homes with big screen TVs and pricey computer equipment. They have minor -- if any -- criminal histories in Florida and draw little attention.

"They've all been nice people," police Sgt. Todd Schrader said. "They're people you wouldn't mind as neighbors -- other than the grow house."

For they also are all members of the largest marijuana growing organization in Port St. Lucie's history, police said on Wednesday.

"This is a multimillion-dollar operation," Schrader said. "The level of organization, we've never seen here in this city."

Schrader and other detectives shared details about the more than 12 people arrested over the past 10 days in connection with the operation.

On Tuesday, police raided two alleged pot farms in the 200 block of Southwest Twig Avenue and the 6400 block of Northwest Halibut Street. Including two Lakewood Park homes hit last week by the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, police say they have now shut down 16 of the organization's grow houses.

Schrader said those arrested likely are low level workers, recruited through word of mouth, friends or relatives. The operation, which Schrader described as "organized crime," probably has a number of layers in a hierarchy over the growers, who likely don't know those at the top.

The growers, who speak Spanish or English and Spanish, are in the country legally, though they aren't United States citizens, police said.

"They're here on work purposes only," Schrader said. "I don't know what their work is other than growing marijuana and their bogus jobs of drywalling, painting, plumbers, taxi cab drivers, truck drivers, students."

Schrader said the most any of them earned legally is $12,000 a year - -- yet they're living in $350,000 or $400,000 homes and driving $50,000 vehicles.

Detective Daniel Herrington said some had legitimate jobs for years before deciding to enter the indoor cannabis cultivation business.

They lived all over the country prior to moving to Port St. Lucie and harvested the marijuana as many as four times annually, making at least $100,000 a year.

"They're mostly Cuban and what we've found so far is the Cubans are basically running it," Schrader said.

Police suspect the marijuana is being "shipped out," perhaps to another state, though the growers probably don't know the destination.